Strutting their stuff

Beyoncé wannabes dance after school

Rakin Arefy, 12, of Damascus (front row) leads classmates (from left) Morgan Hines, 12, of Clarksburg, Jessica Siaw, 13, of Germantown and Amanda Rosenfeld, 12, of Germantown in performing the dance moves they learned from a professional dancer and a choreographer who work for music superstar Beyoncé during a dance class last week at Rocky Hill Middle School in Clarksburg.

Single ladies  and a few gentlemen  lined a makeshift dance floor in Clarksburg last week to roll their hips, shimmy their torsos and kick their legs a la Beyoncé, thanks to a lesson from two of the dancers who work with the superstar.

Nearly 50 students gathered in the cafeteria of Rocky Hill Middle School after class Jan. 6 to learn some of Beyoncé's signature moves from one of her lead dancers, Ashley Seldon, and her choreographer, Brittany Fegans.

Many of the students had little or no previous dance training, so they relished a chance to learn from professionals.

"I want to become like Ashley," said Jessica Westreich, 11, of Germantown, who has performed as a cheerleader and who was one of the students called up on stage to perform during the lesson.

Aryana Jones, 11, of Clarksburg, was also picked to strut her stuff on stage.

"At first, I was scared,'' she said. "Then, when I started, it was fun."

Seldon and Fegans taught the choreography in an after-school class for the new Off Broadway School of Dance & Gymnastics, which is offering the free club at Rocky Hill on Wednesday afternoons until its studio in Clarksburg is ready this summer, said Jill Rosenfeld, executive director of the dance school.

Terry Peyton, the dance school's artistic director and Rosenfeld's partner, taught Seldon, Fegans and a number of other professional dancers at her Alexandria, Va., school, and several of her former students plan to return to the school to teach as their schedules permit, Rosenfeld said.

Before the Rocky Hill students started to dance, Peyton gave the students some general advice.

"One of the things you want to do is get a great education," she said. "You need to learn how to speak to people, how to conduct yourself. All of these things are so important as you go through life."

She pointed out that even the most talented dancers she has taught had to go to auditions and present themselves well to get the best jobs.

Then Seldon introduced the moves to the students in simple steps without the music: "One, two, roll the hips; three, four, lift the right leg and kick to the side,'' she told the mesmerized students, who then copied what they saw.

Then it was show time and the instructors played the song "Imma Be'' by the Black Eyed Peas to inspire the crowd. After the students mastered the moves for a small series of steps and repeated them successfully to the music, Seldon added more hip bumps, leg kicks, arm extensions and body rolls to their repertoire.

Rakin Arefy, 12, of Damascus perfected the series of steps quickly, so he was asked to lead a group of students on stage in putting the moves to music.

"It's sort of challenging; I really like it," he said, adding that he has been dancing hip-hop on his own for a while.

The students were so excited to meet members of Beyoncé's crew that they listened with rapt attention to all of the instructions.

"The first day, they talked and yapped," Rosenfeld said. "You wouldn't believe it's the same kids."

After the class, the starstruck students lined up to get their T-shirts signed by the guest instructors. Some planned to build on what they had learned.

"I thought it was really cool that they were doing this," said Selena Rawlley, 12, of Clarksburg, who had not previously studied dance. "I want to get more into it, take more classes. I think it's a lot of fun."